Neither J.P. Morgan nor Gtel Mobile has announced any information about the deal.

A source from the Ministry of Information and Communications said Vijay Pattabhiraman, chief information officer (CIO) of Asian Infrastructure Group under J.P. Morgan Asset Management, recently met Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Phan Tam who congratulated J.P. Morgan on selecting Gtel Mobile for cooperation in Vietnam.

Tam said J.P. Morgan’s investment in the Vietnamese telecom market comes at a right time as Vietnam is welcoming more investors, especially those from abroad, to create healthy competition for telecom firms and boost market development.

Tam said Vietnam is going to implement a scheme allowing customers to change their networks but keep their phone numbers, and this will be an opportunity for J.P. Morgan and its partner Gtel Mobile if they can provide good services following the scheme.

Gmobile, the country’s fourth biggest mobile carrier in Vietnam, can view the scheme as a chance to woo more customers, he said, adding that Gtel Mobile can also provide 4G service through cooperation with a foreign firm.

Pattabhiraman and J.P. Morgan experts said at the meeting that the company will invest in advanced technologies and develop new business methods to enter deeper into the local market.

Gtel Mobile JSC was established in 2008 based on a cooperation agreement between Global Telecommunications Corporation and Russian firm Vimpelcom to run mobile phone service Beeline. In April 2012, Vimpelcom sold its entire stake to Gtel Mobile and left the Vietnamese market with its Beeline brand.

Five months later, Gtel Mobile launched its mobile phone service Gmobile to replace the Beeline brand.

By the end of August, Gmobile lured 5.9 million subscribers while Viettel had 63.6 million, MobiFone over 34.6 million, VinaPhone more than 20.5 million and Vietnamobile 3.7 million.

Source: Thesaigontimes.vn